Salish Sea Anti-Piracy Campaign
The Salish Sea Anti-Piracy Campaign was a protracted campaign conducted by the Republic of Cascadia to eliminate the threat of piracy in the Salish Sea and Strait of Juan De Fuca. The campaign took place for the founding of the republic in 2198 to the destruction of the "Container Fort" by air raid in 2218. After this point, pirate attacks became practically unheard of. The threat of pirates in the Salish Sea led to several ports towns on the coast of the San Juan Islands and the northern Olympic Peninsula in Washington state to join the Republic, starting in 2209. Background In the year 2198, the Republic of Cascadia was founded, and immediately found itself in conflict with two factions, a few US Military Remnant-controlled bunkers that refused to surrender and join the republic, and the gangs of pirates from the Seattle Wasteland. Of the two factions, the US Remnants were a mostly land-based threat, while the pirate fleets attacked by sea, sailing up through Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the south. These pirates fleets, of which held names such as the "Rust Buckets", "The Carriers", "The Container Fort Crew" and the "Red Flag Fleet", had existed since at least 2090, and preyed on fishing vessels, trading ships, and ferries operated by various pre-war war factions, mostly various ports that had become de-facto independent since the Great War. While these gangs are referred to collectively as the "Salish Sea Pirates", they were in no way centrally organized, with rival gangs sometimes attacking each other. The pirate gangs of the Salish Sea tended to operate in a similar manner, traveling in flotillas centered around a "mothership", often a container ship, tanker, or large ferry modified with various weapons, which was used to support smaller vessels such as similarly armed tugboats and fishing trawlers, both of which carried small motorboats, which would carry pirate boarding parties, which would seize any cargo and sometimes take the ship and crew for ransom. In some cases, the "motherships", which were often armed with formerly land-based artillery such as 105mm and 155mm howitzers would threaten to bombard a fishing village unless the inhabitants paid a ransom. Early Operations On August 4th, 2198, Cascadian Chancellor Martin Lott gave the order for the Cascadian fleet, consisting mainly of a few surviving pre-war Canadian ships, based at Esquimalt, a former Canadian naval base where much of the fleet was interned after the American annexation, to patrol the common trade routes between Cascadia and friendly settlements in former Washington State, including Port Angeles and Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula, and Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor on the San Juan Islands. Among these vessels were the CS New Victoria and four guided missile hydrofoils, along with numerous smaller patrol boats and armed civilian vessels. Cascadian Air Forces were also tasked with patrolling the same trade routes. The first major engagement against the pirate took place on August 22nd, 2198, when the hydrofoil CS Esquimalt responded to a report of a fishing trawler shadowing a ferry carrying passengers and trade goods between Victoria and Port Angeles. When the Esquimalt approached the suspicious vessel, the crew of the trawler opened on the Esquimalt with a 40mm anti-aircraft gun bolted to the bow, as well as small arms fire. Thankfully, most of the fire missed, with the pirate vessel scoring only a few small arms hits on the Esquimalt, none of which injured any of the crew or significantly damaged the vessel. The Esquimalt returned fire with its 75mm cannon, scoring a hit on the bow of the ship, which set off the reserve ammunition for the 40mm gun, sinking the pirate vessel. During the period from 2198 and 2205, numerous similar similar incidents occurred, mostly consisting of engagements involving small boats and vessels such as fishing trawlers and tugboats. There were, however, a few larger incidents, most notably, the sinking of a large container ship used as "mothership" by the "Rust Buckets" pirate gang on April 17th, 2202 by the CS New Victoria, which destroyed the vessel using a pre-war anti-ship missile. Another major incident was the sinking of three pirate armed trawlers by the armed icebreaker CS Hecate Strait in and incident in November 2203, in which one of the pirate vessels was rammed by the Hecate Strait, splitting it in half. The first phase of the Salish Sea Anti-Piracy campaign is generally considered to have ended in May 9th, 2205, when the second large ship owned by the "Rust Buckets" pirate gang was destroyed by a flight Cascadian aircraft, consisting of two Avro Canada CF-305 "Crossbow" and two F2H Banshee fighter jets. The ship was crippled by a hit from a pre-war anti-ship missile fired by one of the Crossbows, and finished off by multiple bomb and rocket hits, before the smaller ships and boats accompanying it were picked off by cannon and rocket fire. This event essentially eliminated the "Rust Buckets" as a faction in the Salish Sea. The San Juan Islands Campaign Starting in 2206, a pirate gang known as "The Carriers", based in a ruined aircraft carrier beached near Everett in the Seattle Wasteland began launching attacks on traders and fishing boats in the Salish Sea, targeting various independent fishing villages, sometimes even threatening to bombard the villages using salvaged naval guns and howitzers mounted on their "motherships"- two pre-war container ships and a tanker. One of the main targets of "The Carriers" were fishing and trading vessels operating out of the San Juan Islands, a set of islands that were formerly part of Washington State before the war, and were home to a group of independent city-states that were major trade partners with Cascadia. "The Carriers" were more heavily armed than the "Rust Buckets", possessing several small pre-war patrol boats, numerous artillery pieces mounted on pre-war civilian vessels, as well as a handful of surviving Vertibirds based out of the wrecked carrier that was their base, which they often used to scout shipping lanes for potential prey. On February 11th, 2207, one of the surviving Vertibirds owned by "The Carriers" flew over the town of Lopez Island and dropped a capsule containing a message demanding that the residents proved 20,000 caps in caps or goods, to be delivered to an exchange point on a secluded island south of the San Juans by the end of the month, or the "Carriers" would bombard the town. Upon receiving this threat, the people of Lopez Island and the other settlements in the San Juan Island, including Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor sent a plea for assistance from Cascadia. A week later, Chancellor Martin Lott and Cascadian Parliament approved the measure, with Lott referring to the pirates as "enemies of all mankind", echoing a term used during the "Golden Age of Piracy" in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The pre-war hydrofoil missile boats CS Esquimalt and CS Squamish were deployed to patrol the Strait of Juan de Fuca south for the San Juan Islands, along with 12 other Cascadian vessels, with the Cascadian Air Force making regular flights over the area. On February 21st, a Vertibird owned by "The Carriers" was detected observing Cascadian ships, and was shot down by fire from machine guns and Gatling lasers mounted on the CS Squamish. In response, the "The Carriers launched two of their three "Motherships" and 21 armed fishing boats to attack the Cascadians. The flotilla, which consisted of two "smaller fleets each centered around a "mothership", was spotted by a Cascadian piston-engined patrol aircraft steaming north out of Puget Sound near Whidbey Island. The patrol aircraft was fired on by the pirate fleet and heavily damaged by machine gun fire from the ships. While the aircraft managed to crash-land on Lopez Island and the crew survived, the aircraft was lost. In response, a CF-305 loaded with pre-war anti-ship missiles was launched from Victoria airport, as well as two F80 "Meteor" fighters. The fighter aircraft deployed two anti-ship missiles, striking the "mothership" of one of the two pirate flotillas, which sunk half an hour later. Six smaller pirate vessels were also sunk in the air attack. The second "mothership" was sunk by missiles from the CS Squamish and CS Esquimalt. Of the remaining pirate vessels, about half of the smaller boats escaped, while the remainder were either sunk or captured by Cascadian and San Juan Islander naval forces. After the destruction of much of "The Carriers" fleet, the Cascadians pressed their advantage, launching an air raid using many of their surviving pre-war jet aircraft, including five CF-305 Crossbows, four F-108 Rapiers, six F2H Banshees, and eleven F-80 Meteors. The aircraft were equipped with flares and chaff (though in many cases, there were improvised rather than pre-war models) in case any of the pre-war air defenses of the carrier which was the gang's base and namesake remained intact. The aircraft were armed mostly with bombs, though a few carried pre-war anti-ship missiles. On March 7th, 2207, the attack was launched. The aircraft faced some ground fire, but many of the carrier's air defenses were no longer intact and the pirates, were not trained in the effective use of those that remained. The aircraft carrier suffered numerous bomb hits, killing many of the pirates that used it as a base, and the last surviving "mothership", a pre-war tanker, was also sunk, along with numerous smaller boats. The success of the raid, which crippled "The Carriers" was celebrated across Cascadia and the San Juan Islands, and further cement relations between the two, leading to the islands voting to join the Republic in 2209. Elimination of the Hood Canal Pirates In 2209, after the success of the campaign against "The Carriers" and other pirate forces threatening the San Juan Islands, the settlements on then northern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, located across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Vancouver Island, in former Washington State, requested assistance in dealing with a gang of pirates known as the "Hood Canal Boys", holed up in a body of water east of the Olympic Peninsula known as the Hood Canal (in spite of its name, is actually a natural bay and not a manmade canal), specifically in the pre-war marinas of Pleasant Harbor and Hoodsport. The effectively independent cities of Port Angeles, Port Townshend, Sequim, and Carlsport had enough naval assets- mostly armed fishing boats and ferries, but also a pre-war Coast Guard Cutter to defend the shores, and the North Olympic Regional Guard, the joint militia, was strong enough to defend the mountain pass separating them from the pirate-controlled areas, but they lacked the manpower to effectively prevent pirate attacks further from shore, particularly in the dangerous waters of the Hood Canal itself, or to dislodge the pirates. The Olympic Peninsula residents requested, in addition to air and naval support, the support of naval infantry and a few armored vehicles to assist in clearing the main bases of the Hood Canal Pirates. The proposal, which called for 400 men and eight armored vehicles, as well as air and naval support was debated in Parliament, with some favoring continuing the offensive against the pirates, while other MPs, mostly from inland regions of Cascadia opposing a ground campaign outside of Cascadian territory. In the end, Parliament approved funding for the transport of the forces, and Chancellor Martin Lott officially ordered the commencement of the operation on June 11th, 2209. On the morning of June 24th, 2209, the Cascadian Air Force launched a series of attacks on Hoodsport and Pleasant Harbor, as well as the pirate shore defenses at Hazel Point, destroying a number of pirate vessels, quickly followed by a barrage of artillery shells fired from artillery guns controlled by the North Olympic Regional Guard- weapons that had previously been used as shore guns. At the same time, Cascadian 1st Mountain Infantry- one of the predecessors to the Special Forces Unit- trekked through the Olympic Mountains, catching shore defenses in the eastern slope of the mountains by surprise and destroying them. As soon as the artillery barrages ceased, a flotilla of 30 Cascadian and North Olympic ships, led by the CS New Victoria, CS Esquimalt, and CS Prince Rupert, as well as the North Olympian Guard Ship (former Coast Guard Cutter) Sentinel entered the Hood Canal and sailed past Hazel Point, easily destroying the few pirate vessels they encountered. The invasion group then rounded the point and began firing pirate vessels and strong points Pleasant Harbor and the nearby town of Brinnon. With the ships providing fire support, about 1000 North Olympic Regional Guard militiamen, supported by a few Cascadian Army tanks and IFVs advanced south down the Olympic Highway, crossing the Quilcene River Pass and advancing on Brinnon from the north, while 200 Cascadian Naval Infantry landed on the beaches near Pleasant Harbor in small boats. With the support from the Cascadian armor and naval artillery, Brinnon and Pleasant Harbor were captured by early after noon on the 24th. The Cascadian advance continued for the rest of the day, encountering some resistance, but proving able to sweep aside the defenses along the road with their superior firepower, making their way to Eldon by the end of the day. On the second day of the operation, Cascadian naval forces attacked the remainder of the pirate naval forces at Hoodsport, sinking most of their remaining vessels in port. The land forces arrived later that day, and easily swept aside the remaining pirate defenders. By noon on the 24th, Hoodsport was in Cascadian and North Olympian hands. In the two-day operation, the Hood Canal Pirates had lost the entirety of the fleet, either destroyed or captured. Those pirates that evaded death or capture in the battle fled into the Olympic Mountains to the west and the Seattle Wasteland to the east. While they would remain in the are for decades, without their ships and in only small numbers, they were little more than an occasional nuisance to Cascadian and allied fishing and trade. In 2211, the Olympic Peninsula would vote to join the Republic of Cascadia, becoming the province of Olympus, the fourth to join the republic. Neutralizing the Pirate Threat Starting in 2211, after the success of operations in the Olympic Peninsula, the Cascadian military planned more offensive operations against the remaining pirates of the Salish Sea, who were based mostly in the Seattle Wasteland and the ruins of Bremerton, the site of a pre-war US naval base which was devastated by a nuclear attack in 2077, as well as the nearby Bainbridge Island. Cascadian forces gained intelligence from local fishermen, as well as captured pirates offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for intelligence, that the primary bases for the remaining pirate gangs were the "Container Fort" on Harbor Island in the ruins of Seattle, the pre-war ferry dock on Bainbridge Island, and the remains of the "Erjoy", the beached remains of the Indochina War-era destroyer and pre-war museum ship, USS Turner Joy at the former Bremerton annex of the Kitsap Naval Base. The first operations took place in 2212, when a Cascadian Avro Lancaster equipped with aerial cameras photographed the sites from an altitude above the range of any anti-aircraft weapons in the pirate's possession, at which point the locations of key targets, including remaining operational ships, were identified. On May 4th, 2212, four CF-305 "Crossbow", two F-108 Rapier, and seven F-80 fighters jet of the Cascadian Air Force hit the "Container Fort", destroying the main structures of the improvised fortifications, as well as sinking a number of ships in the area. This air raid was followed by an attack on pirate vessels and bases in Bremerton on May 22nd, and Bainbridge island on the 29th. Between the three attacks, the raids sunk or disabled all large pirate vessels and bases in the area. While the Seattle Wasteland was considered too pirate and raider-infested to be worth annexing at that point, after much debate in Parliament, funding was approved for an operation to seize Bremerton as, while most of the ships themselves were disabled, intelligence suggested a number of valuable military and naval supplies could be taken from the ships, including armaments, ammunition, electronics, radar equipment, and other parts. The operation to take Bremerton begin on October 14th, 2213, with Cascadian troops and armored vehicles being transported by container ship from Victoria and Vancouver to Port Angeles, before they would travel along the Hood Canal shoreline road to Belfair and travel up the pre-war Highway 3 to Bremerton. At 0900 hours on October 19th, the Cascadian troops were in place, and the assault commenced with an aerial and artillery attack on relatively few pirate defenses one the land approach- the pirate defenses were naturally concentrated towards the sea. The Cascadian armor easily punched through the defenses at Gorst, but faced firmer resistance as they neared the base of the "Red Flag Fleet", the remains of the museum ship USS Turner Joy, known to the pirate as the "Erjoy", as the first four letters of the ship's name has long since fallen off. Three five-inch guns of the destroyer had been knocked out by Cascadian air raids or 200 years of wear and tear, however, the pirates had gotten a single three-inch anti-aircraft gun, as well as twin 40mm Bofors gun working. These weapons caused several Cascadian casualties, including two armored personnel carriers knocked by the 3-inch gun, however, they drew heavy fire from Cascadian tanks and infantry-held rocket launchers, which quickly silenced the guns, allowing Cascadian infantry to storm the beached ship. By the end of October 19th, 2213, Bremerton was in Cascadian hands, with many of the pirate having surrendered in the face of the massive Cascadian firepower. After the capture of Bremerton and air raids on Bainbridge Island and the container fort, some pirate gangs would persist in the Salish Sea, however, with most of their major bases and ships destroyed or captured, the were incapable of mounting major attacks. The last recorded piracy incident off the Cascadian-controlled part of the Salish Sea (former BC and the Olympic Peninsula) took place in December, 2218. Aftermath By 2218, the Salish Sea had been cleared of pirates. While the Cascadians never entered the Seattle Wasteland until decades later, considering it to be a nuclear-devastated, raider-infested ruin of little value, the air raids nonetheless effectively decimated the pirates fleets, destroying practically all of the larger vessels and causing most of the major gangs to collapse into chaos. This power vacuum would eventually be filled by a northern force of Caesar's Legion, having travel north through what was once Utah, northern Nevada, and Oregon, who would control the area until the Cascadian Campaign, when they were ousted by Cascadian and NCR forces in the 2280s. Because of the subsequent Cascadian Civil War, the Cascadian forces would not gain a solid foothold in the Seattle Wasteland until the 2290s, which would become the province of Puget in 2298. The capture of the ruins of the Bremerton unit of the Kitsap Naval Base provided only a few light patrol craft as usable vessels, however, the Cascadians captured hundreds of pieces of pre-war naval technologies, including naval guns, missiles and launchers, aircraft, electronics, radar units, and other parts. From 2224, parts from a destroyed aircraft carrier, including an electromagnetic catapult would even be taken as part of an experiment to mount a catapult and arrestor gear the CS Surrey, a large container ship then used as a helicopter carrier- effectively converting it into a full aircraft carrier. Category:Wars Category:Events